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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, December 5, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Intermountain Region Fugitive Sought By NPS Dies During Arrest Attempt A man who was being sought by the National Park Service for the theft of a historic NPS rifle evidently shot and killed himself as federal marshals were attempting to arrest him in Amarillo, Texas, on November 15th. According to news accounts, R.A., a.k.a. R.K., was wanted on federal arrest warrants for theft of government property, for a supervised release violation, and for being a felon in possession of a firearm. R.A. was the focus of a joint agency investigation that was begun when a historic NPS rifle was stolen from a private museum in Estes Park last January. Investigators connected this theft to thefts of historic items in Illinois and elsewhere in Colorado and obtained a warrant on R.A.. On October 31st, an arrest/warrant team comprised of NPS special agents and rangers, ATF agents, officers from the Aurora and Estes Park (CO) police departments, and officers from the Elgin (IL) police department executed a search warrant at R.A.'s residence in Aurora. The stolen NPS rifle and other items specified in the warrant were seized, as were numerous other stolen items, including at least five automatic weapons and several silencers. Following the execution of the warrant, NPS agents prepared a criminal complaint on three felony counts and secured a felony arrest warrant. The arrest warrant was entered into NCIC and the US Marshal's Service began an active search for R.A. in Colorado, then in Texas. The shooting remains under investigation. [Brian Smith, Special Agent in Charge] OTHER NEWS Other news from today's edition of InsideNPS, the National Park Service's home page: Hawaii Volcanoes NP - On Tuesday, December 5th, over 23 million children and community members from all 50 states will take part in an electronic field trip of the park entitled "Eruption: An Island Rising From the Sea." Grand Canyon NP - A development plan recently completed for the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park is now available to the public. NPS/FLETC - The National Park Service Honor Guard has participated in several events over the past six months and has added new team members. Mount Rainier NP - The Nisqually Glacier continues to shrink steadily. Other glaciers in the park - such as the Stevens, the Williwakas, the Lower Paradise, the Van Trump - have disappeared within the last dozen years or about to do so. New River Gorge NR - Cal Hite, superintendent of New River Gorge National River, recently received the Distinguished West Virginian Award at the 2006 West Virginia Governor's Conference on Tourism in Charleston, West Virginia. Santa Monica Mountains NRA - The park has an opening for a GS-11/12 human resources officer. This merit promotion vacancy closes on December 15th. To link to InsideNPS, click on HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/ * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |